Search these Databases to Find Journal Articles, Reports, Book Chapters and More:

A library database is an online collection of organized and searchable resources, such as journals, newspapers, and videos. You can search databases to find the most reliable, academic information for assignments. This information cannot be found through the Internet (i.e. Google) because a subscription is needed to access it. Learn more about databases here.

Search Key E-Journals for Abnormal Psychology:

Most of the library's databases contain academic journals with peer-reviewed research articles published inside. Journal articles are the most reliable and credible types of information you can use for assignments. Visit our guide here to learn more about peer-reviewed articles.

We subscribe to thousands of publications, like academic journals, magazines, and newspapers. Hit a paywall on a website? Use this search tool to check if the library has an active subscription or browse the many publications you can access online, anytime.

Watch this short tutorial to learn more about library databases:

The library's databases are structured so you can access all the items stored inside. Like a filing cabinet, fields are used to describe and organize library resources into files called records.

When a search term is entered, the computer finds records that contain the search term in one or more of the fields.

All databases share this structure but vary in appearance, the types and formats of the content stored inside, and the terminology used to organize that content.

General, multi-subject databases cover a broad range of subjects and index thousands of resources in multiple formatsIn general, there are two types of databases:

Subject-specific or format-specific databases cover a particular subject or discipline and/or index a particular type of publication, such as streaming videos, e-books, or newspapers

A search engine like Google only searches about 20% of all information stored on the internet. This is called the open web. The 80% of information not accessible through search engines is called the invisible web. This is where information owned by individuals or companies is stored, including library resources.

While it is possible to find scholarly sources on the open web, it can be challenging as many tools, such as Google Scholar,lead to websites with paywalls.This means payment is required for full access to resources such as journal articles.

For example,this article costs $20 to download on the open web.

The same article can be found in full using the library databases.

Read below to understand the difference between searching in the library and searching the internet:

Library Search

Internet Search

Gives you free access to scholarly, peer-reviewed research that costs money to get in full-text, such as academic journals, market research reports, and ebooks.

Has helpful tools like folders to save results, citation generators, and mind maps.

Finds content in subject or format-specific databases, for example Nursing Reference Center for nursing sources or Credo Reference for dictionaries and encyclopedias.

Many options to narrow and improve relevancy of results by filtering for subject, year, type of publication, author, and more

Finds freely available information throughout the internet

Can be helpful for locating news and current events, general information, and official government sources like statistics.

Content is mainly commercial (for-profit) and/or opinion-based

Access to scholarly research require payment (aka paywalls) to access in full-text.

One of the most common formats in databases are periodicals.
Periodical refers to publications produced as an open-ended series at regular intervals, or “periods,” such as daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually.
Periodicals may be issued in print and/or electronic formats with a title indicating content that is focused on a particular subject area, audience, and/or geographic location.
There are 4 major types of periodicals: popular, news-based, trade/professional, and academic.

Type

Examples

Description

Popular

People;

Cosmopolitan;

National Geographic;

Vogue;

Sports Illustrated

Intended to entertain or persuade, usually with an agenda to sell products or services.

Brief articles with short, catchy titles that have no obvious structure and do not contain original research, but sometimes contain summaries and popular representations of research, making it accessible to a non-specialized audience.

Many photographs, illustrations, and colourful graphic layouts used for aesthetic purposes to draw in and influence readers.

Attractive glossy format with lots of colour.

Simple language in order to meet a very basic level of education.

Extensive advertising designed to appeal to the general public or a specific demographic.

Useful for acquiring time-sensitive information as content is extremely current.

Provides mainly objective information, but does not contain scholarly analysis.

Written for a general audience with plain, simple language.

Original source of the information is often unclear, as articles have no in-text citations or reference lists.

Published daily, weekly, or monthly.

Trade or Professional

Advertising Age;

Harvard Business Review;

Nutrition Health Review

Provides news and information to professionals in a particular industry.

Articles do not contain original research, but focus on applying research to practical and real-life situations (i.e. discussing how teachers can apply the latest research on learning theories to their teaching).

Assumes the reader is an educated and experienced professional, so specialized vocabulary and technical jargon is often used.

Funded through both subscriptions and advertising, with extensive advertising aimed at people in the field or industry.

Photographs and illustrations used to support content of the article and also for aesthetic purposes to draw in readers.

Published on an annual, biannual, or quarterly basis.

Academic (Scholarly & Peer-Reviewed)

Nursing Philosophy;

Journal of Business Communication

Most articles are evaluated before publication through the peer review process.

Articles are written by scholars or researchers in the field, discipline, or specialty and contain advanced, technical language appropriate to the discipline.

Illustrations, graphs, charts and photographs are used only to support the content of articles.

Articles are lengthy and have substantial in-text citations with endnotes, footnotes and/or bibliographies.

Plain appearance with little use of colour and minimal advertising.

Published on an annual, biannual, or quarterly basis.

Contains one or more of these terms in the title - Journal, Studies, Applied, Analysis or Quarterly.

Periodicals typically contain several types of articles with varying purposes and characteristics

This means that academic journals do NOT publish ONLY scholarly, peer-reviewed articles. Other types of articles, such as editorials, commentaries, opinion pieces and interviews, are also published in academic journals.

Click below to learn about the characteristics of these common types of articles found in the library's databases:

These articles describe original research studies or experiments and are written in formal, technical language by the person(s) who conducted the research. They follow a scientific format:

Introduction, Hypothesis or Objective presenting the research questions or problem and overall purpose of the article;

Background or Literature Review that describes current understanding and knowledge of the topic with a focus on how the study makes and important contribution;

Method(s) or Design that describes the procedures used to conduct the study such as data collection and theoretical method for analysis;

Results or Findings of the study;

Discussion, Analysis and/or Conclusion that summarizes and interprets the implications of the results in the context of the topic or field as a whole, including areas where further research may be needed.

This type of article attempts to present an original argument or conclusion based on the interpretation of evidence. It typically refers to or contains new or established abstract principles related to a very specific field of knowledge.

This type of article summarizes, analyzes and/or discusses research that has been previously published, rather than reporting new original research. It features a substantial list of references that a reader may wish to consult when learning about or researching a topic.

A common sub-type of a review article is a literature review that systematically and critically collects and describes prior publications on a specific topic or subject.

Less technical and shorter versions of reviews may also appear in trade and professional journals and magazines

Common in the social sciences and life sciences, this type of article provides an intensive analysis of an individual unit (such as a person, group, community or event) in order to illustrates a problem, present new variables and provide possible solutions or questions for further research.

Found in periodicals of all types, these types of articles present opinions and personal analysis of a specific topic or issue. The writing style is persuasive, intending to convince the reader to adopt a certain perspective.

Depending on the type of publication, the language and tone will range from formal and academic to informal and simple

Typically found in newspaper and magazines, although it may occasionally appear in scholarly and academic or trade and professional publications, this type of article reflects the author's opinion or subjective experience with a particular subject or topic.

The language and tone is generally simple and informal with the use of first-person "I" and "my"

Interview pieces feature a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked by the interviewer to acquire factual information, statements, opinion or insight from the interviewee.

Depending on the type of publication, the language and tone will range from formal and academic to informal and simple. Found in all types of publications, interviews are a standard form of writing in journalism and most frequently appear in newspapers and popular magazines

News articles are usually short and written for a broad audience with a focus on current events or trends. Sources are typically quoted within the text (for example: "According to Calgary's Chief of Police...") and there are no references at the end of the article.

The language and tone is plain and simple with the intent of appealing to the general public. News-based articles are typically found in newspapers and magazines but may also appear in academic and trade or professional publications

What is Peer Review?

Peer review is a publication process based on peer evaluation that ensures contributions made to the scholarly community are based on accurate, reliable, and original research findings and analysis:

To determine if a journal article is peer-reviewed, open the article and look for the key characteristics described below.

Plain appearance with very minimal use of colour, graphics and/or images

Additional Clues (typical but not necessary):

A received date and accepted date, which indicate a peer review process prior to publication

An abstract on the front page, which summarizes the content of the article

Structured into sections indicating a research study, with headings such as Introduction, Purpose or Objective; Research Methods or Design; Analysis, Themes or Theoretical Approach; Results or Findings; Discussion or Conclusion

A “keyword” is simply a concrete word or phrase that describes the main concepts in a research question or topic. If you have used an Internet search engine, you are probably familiar with keyword searching.

A keyword search:

Finds the word wherever it appears in the database

Is the most flexible and broadest type of search that is best for initial exploration of a research topic or question

May yield too many results that are not relevant to the research topic or question

Is useful for when the keyword is form of jargon or a term that is new or otherwise distinctive, such as personal names or brands

NEVER type more than one or two words into a search box. Use Advanced Search for more search boxes to add keywords.

To expand search results, drop the ending of keywords and place an asterisk (*) next to the root of term to find all variations such as the plural and adjectival forms:

Generating Search Terms Tutorial

This video tutorial will show you how to find and generate effective keywords for internet or database searching:

Boolean operators allow you to connect search terms together to get more focused results. The most common are AND, OR and NOT:

Operator

What does it do?

Examples

AND

Narrows search results.

Retrieves results that contain all the terms and excludes those that contain just one of the terms.

youth AND drugs

child AND development AND play

OR

Expands search results.

Retrieves results that contain either or all search terms; OR is usually used to search for synonyms or related words.

native OR aboriginal

job OR career OR profession

NOT

Narrow search results by excluding one or more words.

Retrieves the records that contain the first term but eliminates any records that contain the term which is entered after NOT. It should be used with caution as it may eliminate relevant records.

depression NOT economic

crime AND London NOT Ontario

When you use library databases, you will often get too many results.

In most databases, the left-hand or right-hand column of the search results page has many filters/limiters to narrow and improve the accuracy and relevancy of results.

The categories of filters and limiters include:

Format of resource, such as print book, academic journal, or eBook

Subject headings, which describe the content of the item

Language of the publication

Geographic location such as country, province, state or city

Library database where the item is located, such as Academic Search Complete or Nursing Reference Center

Here are two examples of library database filters:

Example 1:

Example 2:

A field is used to “file” a library resource in the database. Fields appear on the database record and vary according to the format of the library resource.

This is an example of a record for an academic journal article. There are fields for the article title, name of the journal (source), author(s), database, and so on. These fields are used to describe and organize the library resource:

To narrow search results by field, choose from the drop-down menu next to the search box:

The library has many different databases and most have this option. This is an example of the field drop-down menu in another database:

A field search:

Is best for known items, meaning you have some knowledge of specific characteristics such as author, title of article, and so on

Must have the exact spelling and grammatical structure. For example, most databases format the author field with by last name first followed by the initial of the first name, so a search for “Anne Smith” would not be successful but search for “Smith, A” would be successful

May narrow results too much, missing other relevant resources

In library databases, subject headings are a type of standardized “tag” used to index and organize resources on the same topic, regardless of the words used in the actual text.

Subject headings are useful because they group under one umbrella term all the synonyms, singular or plural forms, and spelling variants of a given term so you do not have to search for every variation to find all relevant resources.

Also referred to as subject terms or descriptors, subject headings vary depending on the database. A list of subject headings is typically provided within the thesaurus or index, which can be used to begin a subject search.